Bologoye is a railway town in the north of the Tver region,
widely known for its location in the middle of the railway line
between Moscow and St. Petersburg. For most people, the knowledge of
this fact, or at most a walk along the platform, is limited to
getting to know the city. It's really hard to call Bologoe a tourist
center and a separate trip there hardly makes sense, but if you find
yourself somewhere nearby, it's worth taking a walk around the city
for several hours.
A village called Bologoe (locals and the
city administration do not decline the name) on the shore of the
lake of the same name on the eastern spurs of the Valdai upland was
first mentioned in Novgorod scribal books in 1495. It is from this
time that the official countdown of the city's history is now
underway.
For a long time, Bologoye was a completely ordinary
village, but everything changed in the late 1840s, when, during the
construction of the Nikolaev railway from St. Petersburg to Moscow,
it was decided to place one of the five Class I stations in
Bologoye. The construction of a grandiose complex of buildings
associated with it, as well as the road itself, gave a powerful
impetus to the development of this place, and in the late XIX —
early XX century with the construction of lines to Rybinsk, Pskov
and Polotsk, Bologoye also became a major railway hub with a
population of several thousand people. Despite this, Bologoye
received the status of a city only in 1917 from the Provisional
Government. In 1935, the city was transferred from Leningrad to Tver
(then Kalinin) region, where it is now located.
During the
Great Patriotic War, the station and the city were seriously damaged
by air raids. After the war and to this day, Bologoye continues to
be an important railway hub.
The city center is located on a
narrow isthmus between the lake and the railway. This isthmus is
completely penetrated by the main street, which bears the name of
Kirov to the west of the central square, and Dzerzhinsky to the
east. On it you can find late Soviet houses (up to five floors
high), Stalinist buildings, wooden barracks and even several
pre-revolutionary mansions. Outside of this street, the private
sector is predominantly widespread.
The complex of the Bologoye-Moskovskoye station. The first class
railway station was built in Bologoye in 1851. At first, there was a
long-term parking of the train with a change of locomotive, and
passengers could have lunch at the station restaurant at that time. You
can still eat now, although it is difficult to call the station eatery a
restaurant. The appearance of the building and its interior have also
changed for the worse, the station was built up to three floors and
repeatedly reconstructed (the last time in the XXI century), but its
characteristic oval shape with canopies over the platform has been well
preserved — there are very few such buildings left on the
Moscow—Petersburg line. Inside, it is worth seeing the ceiling paintings
on railway themes. On the platform south of the station (i.e. towards
Moscow) there is a steam locomotive-a monument erected in honor of the
courage and heroism of railway workers in the Great Patriotic War. If
you have time, you should go out into the city and walk along the
railway, where among the chaotic buildings you can still guess the
houses of employees, repair shops and other surroundings of the old
railway station, as well as another steam locomotive monument.
1 The water tower (1910), Dzerzhinsky St., near house 3. The
essentially functional structure is decorated not without grace in the
spirit of the Art Nouveau style that prevailed at that time.
2
Monument to those who died during the Great Patriotic War, Dzerzhinsky
St., between houses 8 and 10. The war left a deep mark in Bologoye, so
there are several military memorials in the city. This one is
picturesquely located on the shore of the lake, complemented by an
eternal flame and a BMP standing on the sidelines. A recreation area
with benches and a landscaped embankment area is organized nearby.
3
Artemyev's House, Kirova str., 8. The most interesting pre-revolutionary
mansion in the city attracts attention with exquisite decorations of
window openings and stucco molding infrequent in county towns. Several
other buildings at the beginning of Kirov Street, including the Museum
of Local Lore, are made in a similar style. Also, do not miss the corner
house 1 on Kirova Street — a sudden monument of the 1930s at the
junction of constructivism and Stalinism.
4 Monument to the 500th
anniversary of the city, Kirova St., opposite d. 16. The symbolic
monument with the image of epic heroes and an excerpt from Novgorod
scribal books reminds of the ancient origin of the city.
5 Memorial
chapel, Embankment street. On February 20, 1911, a fire broke out in the
Vologda cinema, the victims of which were 64 people, most of them
children. In 1912, a chapel-rotunda in the neo-Byzantine style was built
in memory of the dead at the expense of local residents.
6 Church of
the Life—Giving Trinity, Kirova str., 52. A rare monument for Bologoe of
the pre-railroad era is a temple in the classical style, erected in
1808. There are good murals inside.
7 Fan depot. The pre—revolutionary fan depot (1905) is part of a
complex of railway buildings located a couple of kilometers east of the
station: at one time trains even stopped here (the stop was called "Fan
Depot"), but with the advent of "Peregrine Falcons" this stop was
canceled. The depot is located between two "threads" of railway tracks
and is not intended for outsiders: you can approach the building via a
pedestrian crosswalk in the area of Veernaya Street, however,
immediately after the crossing begins a guarded (although not fenced)
area. The depot building has not escaped later alterations and is in a
rather pathetic condition, and therefore it will be interesting only to
enthusiastic railway enthusiasts.
8 Rashevsky's cottage, Krasnaya
Gorka str. (by bus to the terminal "CRH"). Engineer Pyotr Rashevsky
supervised the construction of the Moscow District Railway (now MCC),
and had a cottage in Bologoye. It was built according to his own design
and has been preserved in the form of two buildings — a stone mansion
and a wooden wing. The railway character of the buildings is visible to
the naked eye: the mansion looks more like a train station, and the wing
is an apartment building for station employees. The cottage stands in a
beautiful pine forest, now the hospital buildings are located around it,
but this does not interfere with the external examination at all; The
mansion was damaged by fire in 2018 and has since been abandoned.
9
Bologoe-Polotsk Station (Bologoe II) , Linear street (by bus to the
terminal "Bologoe-2"). The Bologoye-Polotsk Railway has its own station
in the city, built up in a style that is uniform for the entire line — a
kind of Art Nouveau with elements of Russian architecture and Gothic.
From the train window, the stone station first of all attracts attention
— such stations were built only at the most important stations of the
line, and even worse wooden towers have been preserved. From the
"ground" it makes sense to inspect the station village, the largest on
the line, although gradually losing its integrity.
Museum of
Local Lore, Kirova str., 4. Mon–Fri 8:30 – 17:00. There are three halls
of the local history exposition and a fourth for temporary exhibitions.
Of interest is the layout of the Church of the Intercession, which was
blown up in 1932, once the main temple of the city.
It is convenient to combine a trip to Bologoye with a visit to Vyshny
Volochok, one of the most unusual cities in Central Russia, which
appears in (infrequent) tourist routes under the slogan "Russian
Venice". "Sapsany" and other trains running along the Nikolaev highway
will take you to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Tver, and another railway,
Bologoe-Polotsk, will take you through the picturesque wilderness to
Ostashkov, standing on the shore of Seliger. For other trips within a
radius of 100 km, you can not do without a car, the quiet provincial
Valdai is interesting here, as well as the gloomy, but not devoid of
attractions, Borovichi, which is accompanied by beautiful rapids on the
Msta River and old merchant villages.
1 Springs in Mshentsy, 37
km from Bologoe towards Borovichi, there is no exit from the M11
highway. Mineral springs gushing from a karst sinkhole, revered, as it
is claimed, since pre-Christian times and sung by Nicholas Roerich.
There are separate places for swimming and collecting water. The village
of Mshentsy is located almost at the M11 highway, but there is an exit.
2 The manor is closed, 40 km from Bologoye towards the town of
Borovichi. The now abandoned romantic-looking manor of the architect and
stud breeder A.S. Khrenov. Pay attention to the preserved details of
both the old manor house and the Soviet holiday home
3 Timkovo Manor
(22 km northwest of the city). Another abandoned eclectic manor house —
this time with a claim to neo-Gothic; the elongated main house looks
more like a church than a fantasy castle.
4 Kuzhenkino station, in
the village of the same name. The railway theme can be continued in the
vicinity of the city — there is an almost preserved complex of the
ordinary station of the Bologoe-Polotsk railway of the beginning of the
XX century. The traditional terem station for these stations has
practically not lost all its numerous decorations here, and the modern
water tower, lined with wild stone for part of the height, is not
inferior to it. The track barracks, baggage shed and other auxiliary
facilities of the station have been preserved.
How to get there:
There are two settlements with the name Kuzhenkino: a village on the M10
highway and an urban-type settlement a few kilometers away from it, the
station is located in the village. You can get here from Bologoye by
commuter buses. If you are traveling to Ostashkov by steam locomotive,
you will be given a half—hour tour of the station, and you can not leave
other passing trains for a brief inspection - the station buildings can
be seen well from the window.
By train
Trains following the Moscow—St. Petersburg route,
although they stop at the Bologoe station, are of little use for getting
into the city, since they arrive there late at night. At a convenient
time, only expensive high-speed Peregrine Falcons arrive in Bologoye (2
hours each from Moscow and St. Petersburg) and some additionally
designated trains. From St. Petersburg, it is convenient to use the
"Swallow" (3 hours), which allows you to visit Bologoe in one day.
Trains from Moscow or St. Petersburg to the regions can also be useful —
they run to Bologoye during the daytime. In addition, from some Russian
cities, such as Yaroslavl or Nizhny Novgorod, it is exactly one night on
the way to Bologoye.
Commuter service: 4 times a day to Tver (via
Vyshny Volochok), where you can take the train to Moscow. With varying
intensity, on average once or twice a day, trains run towards
Udomli-Bezhetsk-Sonkovo, Okulovka and Ostashkov-Toropets-Velikiye Luki.
In the latter case, instead of the usual suburban train, a retro train
with a steam locomotive runs to Ostashkov once or twice a week (for more
information, see Ostashkov#By train). Commuter traffic has practically
disappeared in the Pskov direction: you can get to neighboring Valdai by
the distant St. Petersburg Swallow, and commuter trains do not run every
day.
1 Station Bologoye-Moskovskoye. 4:00 – 3:00. The typical
Oktyabrskaya railway station built in 1851 (as a landmark it is
described below) stands out for its unfashionable island location at the
present time. There are two ways to get out of it into the city — by
underground and aboveground crossings with exits on both sides of the
railway. The building itself has ticket offices, rather large waiting
rooms, storage cells (100₽/hour, 800₽/day), an acceptable
round-the-clock buffet and a multimedia stand where videos about
Bologoye are played. The entrances to the station building operate
according to a rather non-standard schedule, which is associated with
the arrival of Peregrine Falcons, when the corresponding platform is
closed from outsiders. If you are leaving on a Peregrine Falcon, you
need to keep in mind that passengers are checked for safety before
entering the platform, and formally this procedure ends 15 minutes
before the departure of the train. In reality, you can come later, but
not quite right next to the departure.
By bus
In a city like
Bologoye, the railway cannot but dominate over buses, so the bus station
serves only suburban routes around the area, a couple of commercial
flights a day to Tver via Vyshny Volochek and Torzhok and the only bus
to Valdai. You can also take a commuter bus to the villages of
Kuzhenkino and Vypolzovo on the M10 and try to catch long-distance buses
running along the highway there.
2 Bologoe bus station, Vokzalny
lane 3 (at the underpass across the tracks from the center). ☎ Auto
Express: +7 (910) 646-84-36. 5:00 – 21:00. A small building with an
archaic interior located in the parking lot (there are benches). Private
Autoexpress routes depart from the same square, but on the other hand,
their ticket office is located there.
By car
Follow the M10
highway to Kuzhenkino (331 km from Moscow and 366 km from St.
Petersburg), then turn right (when driving from Moscow). The highway is
13 km away. After passing Bologoye, this road winds around the railway
and eventually takes you to the highway in Borovichi. There is also an
exit to the city from the M11 toll road.
Urban transport is represented by several bus routes, which operate grooves and cavities. The timetable is usually posted at the stops. Fare: 31 rubles (2022).
There are many small shops in the area of the railway station, on Dzerzhinsky Street and at the beginning of Kirov Street. There is also an active hand-trading going on here. There is no shortage of supermarkets in the city center.
1 Dining room of the recreation center for locomotive crews, 3
Dzerzhinsky St. (near the water tower). Around the clock. Hot: less than
100 rubles. A cult institution that became widely known in those days
when people still went to St. Petersburg not on "Peregrine Falcons", but
"on dogs". A small unsophisticated dining room with very attentive
staff, from whom you will learn that if not the curb into the curb, then
at least buckwheat into buckwheat in Bologoe definitely goes. A rare
catering establishment that operates on weekends.
2 Cafeteria,
Kirova street, 4. 8:00 – 20:00, Break: 14:00 – 15:30. A kind of urban
canteen is somewhat less attractive than the railway workers' canteen
mentioned above.
3 Cafe "Karavan", Vokzalny lane.. 10:00 – 24:00,
Fri and Sat: until 2:00. A detached pavilion-shed, the atmosphere of a
provincial cafe.
4 Cafe Slavyanka, Kirova str., 16. Judging by the
reviews, it is inexpensive and not very tasty, but still it is a
serviced cafe, not a dining room. Wi-Fi.
5 Restaurant "White
Nights", Dzerzhinsky St., 28. ☎ +7 (48238) 2-31-13. 11:00 – 23:00. There
is also an opportunity to eat in the Bologom and not in the dining room
or fast food. The service is long, the reviews are mixed, but by the
standards of large cities it is inexpensive.
1 Hotel "Bologoe", Kirova street, 22. ☎ +7 (48238) 2-23-77. Double room: from 3000 rubles. Steadily collects negative reviews due to the high prices for rooms that have not seen renovation for thirty years.
The city is located on
the shores of Lake Bologoye on the northeastern spurs of the Valdai
Upland, turning into the Vyshnevolotskaya lowland. The absolute
heights in the city area are 150-200 m. The relief is slightly
hilly. There is another lake in the northern part of the city -
Ogryzkovo.
The area of the city is included in the forest
zone, but few forests have survived; they occupy only 10-15% of the
area. Mixed forests with a predominance of conifers.
Soils
are sod-podzolic loamy and sandy loam, developed on the moraine. In
the depressions near the lakes, the soils are peaty-gley.
Groundwater occurs at a depth of 10-15 m.
The climate in Bologoye is moderately continental. The city has relatively warm summers and relatively cold winters. According to observation data for the period 1981-2010, the average annual air temperature is plus 4.6 ºС. The average temperature of the coldest month, January, is minus 7.5 ºС, and the warmest month, July, is plus 17.9 ºС. Annual precipitation averages 669 millimeters, although in some years it can fall by 150-200 millimeters more (up to 874 mm in 1998). Stable snow cover is observed from the second decade of November to the first decade of April, sometimes snow falls and the establishment of temporary snow cover in May (up to 15 cm in 1984) and September (up to 1 cm in 1986). The average annual sunshine duration is 1632 hours. The prevailing wind rose in the city is western, north-western. Wind gusts up to 12-16 meters per second are often noted.
The name Bologoye
comes from the Old Russian "bologyi" - good, good. "The village of
Bologoye over Lake Bologim" was first mentioned around 1495 in the
scribe book of the Derevskaya pyatina of the Novgorod land.
In 1851, the station of the Nikolaevskaya (now Oktyabrskaya) railway
was opened. Warehouses, workshops, depots, buildings of various
services were built to service the railway. The appearance of the
railroad was the impetus for the rapid development in the area of
st. Bologoye.
By the decree of the Provisional Government
on June 3, 1917, the village of Bologoye (united with the village of
Bologoye) was transformed into a countyless town of Valdai County.
By the decree of the Novgorod provincial executive committee of
June 7, 1918, the Bologovsky district of the Novgorod province was
formed, which included 11 volosts. In April 1919, the county was
included in the Valdai county, the center of which in April 1919 -
October 1920 was located in the city of Bologoye.
In June
1925 - August 1927, Bologoye was the center of the Medvedev volost
of the Valdai district, since August 1927 - the center of the
Bologovsky district. On January 29, 1935, the city and district were
transferred to the newly formed Kalinin region.
During the
Great Patriotic War, Bologoye was subjected to brutal bombing as an
important railway junction. In total, during the war years, 527
raids were made, in which 1,092 aircraft participated, 212 sabotage
groups were abandoned. The city was not occupied. In July 1941, the
headquarters of the 29th Army was located here, the city was used as
a staging post for sending troops to the west (source: maps, fund
219 inventory 679 file 88, archive of the RF Ministry of Defense).
1495 - the first mention - the
village of Bologoye above Lake Bologim; and in it is the Church of
the Beheading of John the Baptist.
1772 - the village of Bologoye
belongs to the landowner Stepanida Bogdanovna Melnitskaya.
1848 -
the village of Bologoye is acquired by Prince Arseny Stepanovich
Putyatin, who married Maria Melnitskaya.
1851 -
Bologoe-Moskovskoye station was opened.
1870 - the
Rybinsk-Bologovskaya railway was opened.
1876 - a railway
hospital was built and opened, one of the first in Russia. In 1976
she was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.
1879 - a railway
technical school was opened, the third in a row in Russia. In 1979
he was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.
1897 - traffic on
the railway to Staraya Russa - Pskov was opened.
1899 -
excavations on the shore of Lake Bologovskoye. Nicholas Roerich
first came to the Putyatins estate in Bologoye.
1903 - a school
for boys was opened.
1906 - a gymnasium for girls was opened, the
Bologovskiy sleepers impregnation plant was built.
1907 - the
Bologoye-Polotsk railway to Velikiye Luki was opened.
February
20, 1911 - a fire in the building of the club of the Bologovo free
fire society, which killed 64 people, including 43 children.
July
1, 1941 - the first bombing of the city.
March 13-23, 1943 - a
special German aviation division bombed Bologoye (1,811 bombs
dropped). After that there was a German report: the stations
Bologoye and Medved no longer exist, they were wiped off the face of
the earth.
1995 - the city celebrated its 500th anniversary. Many
citizens from all over Russia came to celebrate the anniversary.
1996 - the Bologovskoe branch of the October railway was abolished.